Volkswagen Tiguan: The Next Honda CR-V?

Second, who’s buying so many of them that Volkswagen needs to invest a billion dollars in upgrades to the plant that will make the next version?

The 2017 Tiguan will be built in a plant capable of cranking out 500 of the crossovers per day. Sales figures for the past year in North America tend to average about 2,000 vehicles per month.

That’s a bit of a disconnect, don’t you think?

The Tiguan is a great little crossover, don’t get me wrong, it’s just not a perennial best-seller like the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4. Heck, the Tiguan’s more expensive cousin, the Audi Q5, sells in higher numbers than the VW.

If all goes according to plan, though, a coming redesign of the Tiguan will justify the expansion.

The current Tiguan is scheduled to be redesigned in 2017 and a long-wheelbase version, with three rows of seats, will be sold in the U.S. market.

That could easily convince some family-toting American buyers to look past the Japanese automakers and get some German engineering. Assuming, of course, the engineers give it some worthy go-fast bits. CarGurus’ overview of the 2014 Tiguan says:

The modified Passat chassis gives this little hauler a sedan-like quality that’s high on ride comfort, but light on agility and driving pizzazz, while cargo area, lineup-wide, returns at a somewhat paltry 56.1 cubic feet with the rear seatbacks folded.

A Volkswagen without driving pizzazz is like a cupcake without frosting. What’s going to compel you to buy one?

Adding a third row of seats will increase the size of the cargo area substantially, when the seats are down of course, and could make the Tiguan a force to be reckoned with if it also has the driving dynamics people expect in German cars.

If you anticipate being in the market for a small SUV in the coming months and years, keep an eye on production and sales figures for the Tiguan. If Volkswagen makes too many, you could end up with a sweet deal on a stylish ride.

Is the Volkswagen Tiguan on your shopping list? If not, which small SUV would you choose instead?